SSQ (formerly Q) was a 1980s synthpop outfit consisting of Stacey
Swain ,
Jon St. James , Dan Van Patten and
John Van Tongeren . It had
created several background songs for television shows, and would later
support Swain's music career as Stacey Q.

The original Q project was composed of
Stacey Swain as lead singer,
Jon St. James on guitars, and Dan Van Patten and
John Van Tongeren on
vocoder and synthesizer ; it was a small American techno band. It was
formed in 1982 by
Jon St. James and
Stacey Swain , and named after the
James Bond character . Ross Wood was also a group member. The group
only had two releases: a 7" single of their song "Playback" on Cocteau
Records, and a four-track EP released almost exclusively to college
radio stations that has become known among fans as
The Q EP . Only
1,000 copies were printed of the EP.

In 1982 the band reformed with two new members, drummer Karl Moet and
synth player Rich West, alongside the official lineup of Van Tongeren,
St. James and Swain. After the reformation, St. James was forced to
change the name of Q because of copyright problems (famed producer
Quincy JonesQuincy Jones reportedly had "established use of the 'Q' moniker").
Swain explained in a 2006 radio interview that the band was renamed
SSQ after
Jon St. James "was fishing in a lake 'no bigger than a
bathtub' and made a joke that the boat was the 'S.S. Q,'" referring to
the current band Q. St. James had another reason for the name: "SS"
stood for "Stacey Swain", who had become the most recognized of the
band's members.

PLAYBACK

SSQ first released their debut album Playback in 1983 under Enigma
Records . The band's first live performance was held at the Greenworld
Distribution warehouse in Torrance , which was then the location of
the Enigma label. The video for "
Synthicide " later premiered on West
Coast television and brought greater notoriety for the five-member
band. By 1984,
Stacey Swain was already eclipsing her bandmates in
popularity. The band ultimately shifted its focus on Swain
specifically, with Moet, West,
Skip Hahn and St. James as backup
performers. Hahn officially replaced
John Van Tongeren on keyboards,
vocoder and bass just before the release of Playback .

"Synthicide", "Big Electronic Beat" and "Clockwork" appeared on the
soundtrack of the 1984 comedy
Hardbodies , while "Synthicide",
"Walkman On", and "Anonymous" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1985
comedy Cavegirl .
Jon St. James served as composer of the latter film,
with
Stacey Swain having a brief appearance as the character "Brenda".
SSQ also contributed two tracks, "Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We
Die)" and "Trash's Theme", to the soundtrack of the 1985 zombie flick
The Return of the Living Dead . "Tonight" is the track played by boom
box when Trash, played by
Linnea Quigley , performs the film's famous
graveyard striptease.

In 2015, Playback was re-released on iTunes, and was digitally
remastered as well as remixed by Jon. St. James. A few bonus tracks
were also included in the album.

In 2016, SSQ re-released Playback on vinyl on the Strange Disc label.
Two bonus tracks included are "The Model" and "Tonight (We'll Make
Love Until We Die)".

STACEY Q

The new lineup carried on with Swain under the name
Stacey Q , and
they acted as musicians on her first two albums, Better Than Heaven
and
Hard MachineHard Machine . They went on to success with dance-pop tracks like
"Two of Hearts " and "
We Connect ". Rich West, Karl Moet and Skip Hahn
were collectively credited as "SSQ" on the credits of albums and
singles released as "Stacey Q". The backup members also recorded some
material without
Stacey Swain on vocals. One such track, the hip-hop
-inspired "Pleasure Dog", was featured on The Enigma Variations Vol.
2.